Symbols of Plenty

Symbols of Plenty is the tenth published collection of verse by Ruth Bidgood, one of today's leading Anglo-Welsh poets. It includes her celebratory Hymn to Sant Ffraid, or St Brigid as she is more widely known, which was originally commissioned for broadcast by BBC Radio Wales. Published here in its entirety for the first time, it brings into view a whole new dimension of her work. Weaving together the complex strands of myth and legend that surround this sixth century saint, it is an insightful and articulate statement of Celtic faith and belief.

Five poetic sequences follow, chains of short poems focusing on themes that are central to Ruth Bidgood's writing - landscape, the myriad small events of everyday experience, the renewing power of memory in both private and public life.

RUTH BIDGOOD was born in 1922, the daughter of a priest in the Church in Wales. She read English at Oxford and worked as a coder in Alexandria during WW2. She later worked in publishing and began to write poetry following her return to Wales in the 1960s. She lives in mid-Walesand is one of Wales' leading contemporary poets. She is a nature poet in the tradition of Wordsworth and Edward Thomas and religious themes pervade her work.